The present invention relates to a process and an apparatus for transferring and/or dispensing, especially at a high rate, brittle solid particles with a view to their use for any desired purpose, e.g. their introduction into a container, particularly a bottle, the said brittle solid particles consisting preferably of alginate beads or like small balls containing inclusions of microorganisms, particularly yeasts, with a view, especially, to fermenting a liquid capable of fermentation, such as grape juice, wine, preferably Champagne wine.
When making sparkling Champagne wine, the yeasts were hitherto mixed with the wine to which sugar had been added in large tanks and the homogeneous mixture obtained was introduced or injected into the bottles by gravity and/or under the action of vacuum and/or of overpressure by means of volumetric or continuous dispensing devices using mechanical members such as slide-valves, clack-valves, endless screws or gate-valves.
This prior technique was improved by using the yeasts in the form of inclusions in a vehicle material, such as an alginate, in the form of spherical beads (see French Pat. No. 78 22131 INRA).
Such use of the yeasts or other fermentation microorganisms in the form of inclusions in a vehicle material consisting of solid gelled beads greatly facilitates the separation of the yeasts or other micro-organisms after the fermentation.
However, Applicant became aware of the new technical problem raised by such use of the yeasts in the form of inclusions, i.e. of the need for preventing the deterioration of the vehicle material when tranferring the beads containing the yeast or other micro-organism inclusions into bottles or other fermentation containers, so as to avoid freeing the yeasts or other micro-organisms in the medium, e.g. the wine or grape juice, to be fermented, since such freeing of the yeasts or other micro-organisms would annihilate the advantage offered by their use in the form of inclusions, i.e. easy separation of the yeasts or other fermentation microorganisms from the fermented medium, and in order also to avoid abnormal turbidity which would be an obstacle to the sale of the product or would hinder its preservation especially in the case of wine or Champagne wine.